Chapter Text
Iruka-sensei was smiling at the front of the classroom, surely anticipating the excited responses of his students. “I’m sure most of you already have an idea, but can anyone give me some examples of the most famous jutsu from other villages?”
He paused, seeing a lack of hands despite all the chatter, and coughed briefly. “I know this is exciting, but let’s focus! This is still class time. For those of you having trouble coming up with any examples, try to think back over past lessons on the Shinobi Wars.
“…And if none of you want to volunteer, I will pick one of you at random,” Iruka warned.
Sakura was having trouble coming up with any examples herself, but she tentatively put her own hand up. She could probably just list the elemental releases favored by the other nations, even if it wasn’t exactly what Iruka-sensei was asking about. Easy enough to remember, as long as one knew which Hidden Village was in which country.
And, anyway — Ino definitely didn’t have her hand raised! Take that!
Not unlike Ino’s other …friend? fellow clan kid? acquaintance?... Shikamaru. Sakura knew from long experience sharing a class with him that he was probably slouching even further down in his chair now, head buried in his arms. From where Sakura was seated, she couldn’t see Shikamaru, but he really did exist as the epitome of clan stereotypes. A lazy Nara genius indeed!
That was one classmate who never wanted to be picked (even if he always seemed to know the answer. It was frustrating how someone who never seemed to need to study could know things so effortlessly. Someone who, as a clan heir, had apparently-untouched resources at his fingertips that Sakura could only dream of).
Iruka’s eyes skimmed briefly over the class, before selecting a student who had stoically raised a hand. “How about you, Shino?”
Shino sat up even straighter, preparing to answer. Truly the opposite of Shikamaru!
(It’s not a matter of life or death, silly! Inner snickered at his serious mien. Unlike us, you don’t have a Best Friend to beat!
Rival! Sakura mentally hissed. Ino wasn’t her best friend, she was her rival! Grown-up-like kunoichi vying for their goals, not friends!
…Best Rival, Inner amended, laughingly ignoring Sakura’s internal screech. )
“Iwagakure is known for their use of explosives. Why you ask? Because they have the Demolitions Corp, as well as many shinobi with the bloodline limit Bakuton, the Explosion Release.”
“Thank you, Shino, that is mostly correct,” Iruka said, writing demolitions & explosives — Iwa on the board. “While I would hesitate to say Iwa has many with Bakuton, especially since the last war, it is certainly present in their forces. Some further examples of explosives used in combat or sabotage include blasting gels, dynamite, and explosive tags, the latter of which members of our own force here in Konoha use as well.
“Technically, unlike other types of explosives, such as mechanical, chemical, and ninjutsu-based (including those created with bakuton), explosive tags are classed under fuinjutsu as a sealing technique. However, they can be used to similar effect in combat and general shinobi work — as a distraction, a weapon, or a means of sabotage — and they have the added benefit of stability and being able to be stored safely, as long as they aren’t exposed to outside sources of chakra.”
One of the girls from Sakura’s kunoichi class raised her hand, asking a question regarding why explosive tags were considered fuinjutsu and not anything else. It might have been the type of conversation Sakura would have been interested in, had it taken place anywhere else other than in the middle of a lesson that she was much more interested in, but eventually the conversation came back around to the actual subject matter.
Sakura promptly — well, sooner rather than later, if that meant anything — stopped zoning out as she and Inner quit bickering over whether, exactly, Sasuke would look better in his usual dark navy or in red (like Sakura wore. Unfortunately, Inner pointed out that navy wasn’t exactly Sakura’s color, otherwise Sakura’s point about wearing matching colors would definitely have won that argument).
“This is a bit of a detour, but speaking of weapons, would any of you like to guess what other styles of bukijutsu the other nations might tend to favor? Remember, in Konoha the type of weapons technique we make the most use of is shurikenjutsu: utilizing throwing projectiles such as shuriken, kunai, and senbon. However, almost any weapon has a style associated with it.
“For instance, an example I’m sure many of you are familiar with is what Kirigakure is infamous for…”
Ah! Sakura knew a little about this. Kiri was known for… for… well, mostly for being scary. Sakura had overheard her mother talking about it as “Chigiri,” the Bloody Mist, once or twice. Really scary!
Though why the mist itself would be bloody, she didn’t know — the sky certainly didn’t bleed. Still, she had shivered with due horror and a little secret delight about overhearing something Mebuki would probably smack her for. That was, if she ever found out that Sakura had listened in on one of her “adult conversations”. It wasn’t like she had done anything wrong, though, not really! Sakura was plenty mature, and eavesdropping (er, tactically listening in) was good practice for being a kunoichi… even if she wasn’t going to tell her mom that.
But, Kiri definitely had all sorts of fearful techniques. Even the sorts of weapons that Konoha-nin wielded for the sake of the Will of Fire could surely be turned to all sorts of awful ends. And that was it, besides being terrifying, Kiri was known for one thing:
“Swords.”
Except… that wasn’t Sakura who said it. She had her hand up, waiting patiently just like she was supposed to, and yet somebody else had said it first, without even being called on. Her mouth twitched downwards as she glared, eyes darting around to find whoever said it. She was going to share that with the class, not whoever —
Oh. It was Sasuke-kun.
Well, of course Sasuke-kun would know exactly what to say. So cool and on top of things as usual! He was perfect, after all. Sasuke never messed up jutsu, or lost a spar, and he really was the model student and the exemplar shinobi everyone, not just Sakura, praised…
He still stole what we were going to say! Inner grumbled. I hope he got it wrong, for interrupting us!
Sakura frowned, close-fisted as she pulled her hand back towards her desk from where she had had it raised. It was Sasuke! Shut up, Inner.
And, that would have meant they were wrong, too, and Sakura was absolutely certain she wasn’t!
“Yes, thank you Sasuke, that’s right — ”
“Sensei,” she blurted out, trying to drown out her embarrassment, no matter how unwarranted it might have been (and ignoring the fact that she was now the one interrupting the class, unprompted), “Kiri is also known for the Hiding in the Mist jutsu, and,” she paused, searching for a suitably large word, “other area effect ninjutsu!”
Iruka-sensei paused in writing out kenjutsu — Kiri onto the board. “Sakura, while that may be true, you can’t continue to speak out of turn. I know you know better than that.” Still, he penciled in environmental effect ninjutsu.
But Sasuke had — no, that was Sasuke. Not Sakura.
“I’m sure many of you have heard of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist before, but for those of you that haven’t, they are a group of some of the most elite swordsmen from Kirigakure and Water Country as a whole. Kiri also specializes in aquatic and naval combat, training their shinobi from the time they are genin to fight both in and on water…”
The class continued, but Sakura’s enthusiasm had burned out.
Before they were dismissed to their afternoon target practice, Iruka-sensei announced that their project for the term would be to research a foreign jutsu or area of combat alongside its history, applications, and ways to combat it — which normally would have been exactly the sort of assignment she liked, one that involved lots of reading (and, perhaps, the opportunity to partner up with… someone…!).
Ino smirked back over her shoulder at her, and Sakura normally would have done the same, but her heart wasn’t in it at all.